As of Oct. 3, the Major League Baseball postseason is under way after a regular season filled with action and excitement; from the one game playoff, to get to a one game play off, to the retiring of MLB legends Mariano Rivera, Todd Helton, and Andy Pettitte, to rookie sensations Jose Fernandez and Matt Harvey showing us the future, to the Cleveland Indians and Pittsburgh Pirates shocking the baseball world and making the playoffs.

Now the regular season has finished and it’s time for the playoffs. With the playoffs come playoff predictions. The wild card round is wrapped up as the Tampa Bay Rays beat surprise team Cleveland Indians 4-0 in the American League wild card game, making it to the next round.

In the National League, the other big surprise, Pittsburgh Pirates, who haven’t made the playoffs in 20 years, beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-2, making it to the next round. So now the bracket looks like this:

In the American League Divisional series, the Boston Red Sox play the Tampa Bay Rays, and the Detroit Tigers play the Oakland Athletics.

In the National League Divisional Series, the Pirates play the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Los Angeles Dodgers play the Atlanta Braves.

Let’s start with the American League; Red Sox vs. the Rays. The Red Sox finished with the best record in the American League, 97-65, but will have a task against the young talented Rays pitching staff, but I’m going to say the Red Sox are going to take this series over the Young Rays squad.

In the other matchup, the Tigers have probable MVP of the season Miguel Cabrera, 20 game winner Max Scherzer and the underdogs for the second straight year Oakland A’s play. The Tigers have the talent, but I like the A’s in this matchup because they play it the right way. Baseball is not all about talent, but also about skill, and the Tigers are known for errors. The A’s play the game the way it should be played, and I think they upset.

The National League has some interesting matchups starting with LA Dodgers and Braves. Two teams had up and down seasons and a lot of talent. This will be close, but the Dodgers are the better team, and will come away with this close series.

The last matchup is the Cardinals and the Pirates. The Cardinals won the World Series in 2011 and almost made it back last year, but got beat by the San Francisco Giants, who went on to win the World Series, but the Pirates are a team that no one expected to be in the playoffs, and shocked everyone. I feel, with all this momentum and spark; The Pirates are going to shock everyone again.

So the next round would be: in the American League, Red Sox against the Oakland Athletics, and in the National League, the Pirates against the Dodgers. Check in next week to see if the predictions are right and who really won. If they were not, see the predictions for the next round.